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DOCUMENT RESUME JC 990 305 ED 430 624 Davis, Jackie L. AUTHOR Developmental Course-Taking in Community Colleges. TITLE 1999-00-00 PUB DATE NOTE 22p. Descriptive (141) Reports PUB TYPE MF01/PC01 Plus Postage. EDRS PRICE Academic Achievement; *Community Colleges; *Developmental DESCRIPTORS Studies Programs; *Mathematics; Remedial Programs; *Student Evaluation; Two Year College Students; Two Year Colleges *Developmental Students; Olney Central College IL IDENTIFIERS ABSTRACT This paper presents an examination of community college students enrolled in developmental mathematics courses, and their subsequent academic performance in college-level coursework. The study was undertaken to obtain an historical perspective of remedial education in American community colleges and to review the research related to developmental mathematics course-taking in community colleges. The following topics are presented: (1) an introduction to developmental education, including a definition and the a review of the literature on this subject; reasons for its importance; (2) (3) the results of a field investigation, in which the researcher interviewed four developmental education specialists in the Illinois community college (4) general developmental mathematics enrollment data for all system; (5) a description of the developmental Illinois community colleges; mathematics courses at Olney Central College; and (6) conclusions and recommendations. It is concluded that developmental education is an essential function of the community college if these institutions are to fulfill their mission as democratizing colleges, and that much more research is necessary to determine whether developmental education courses are effective in raising students' ability to college-level, enabling students to persist in their courses, and retaining students until they reach their educational objectives. Contains 17 references. (CAK) ******************************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * * from the original document. * * ******************************************************************************** Developmental Course-Taking in Community Colleges 1 Ruiming head: DEVELOPMENTAL COLTRSE-TAKING IN COMMUNITY COLLEGES Developmental Course-Taking in Community Colleges Jackie L. Davis University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Word Count = 5,033 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS CENTER (ERIC) A This document has been reproduced BEEN GRANTED BY as received from the person or organization originating it. J. Davis Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. Points of view or opinions stated in this TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES document do not necessarily represent INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) official OERI position or policy. 1 BEST COPY AVAILABLE 2 Developmental Course-Taking in Community Colleges 2 Abstract This paper examines community college student enrollments in developmental courses, primarily mathematics, and their subsequent academic performance in college-level coursework. The study was undertaken primarily to obtain an historical perspective of remedial education in American community colleges and to review the research related to developmental mathematics course-taking in community colleges. The research literature of community college remedial educational programs is reviewed, noting the increase in the amount of developmental courses offered in community colleges over the past 10 years. This paper also presents the fmdings of a field investigation of developmental educational programs at four Illinois community collegestwo small rural institutions, one larger rural institution, and one large urban institution. The findings conclude that little research is available on the effectiveness of community college developmental educational programs as well as research designed specifically to measure the effectiveness of developmental educational mathematics programs and students' subsequent academic performance in college level courses. Implications for conducting further research on developmental educational programs in community colleges are discussed. 3 Developmental Course-Taking in Community Colleges 3 Introduction This paper presents an examination of community college students enrolled in developmental education courses and their subsequent academic performance. Included in this paper are: (a) an introduction to developmental education; (b) a review of the pertinent developmental education literature; (c) field investigation consisting of interviews with four developmental education specialists currently working in Illinois community colleges; (d) a general review of developmental mathematics enrollment data in the Illinois community college system; (e) a review of developmental education mathematics programs at Illinois Eastern Community Colleges; and (f) a sunmiary of the author's examination of developmental educational programs. Four Illinois community colleges were selected for the field study. Olney Central College in Olney and Lincoln Trail College in Robinson were selected to be representative of a multi-college district. John A. Logan Community College in Carterville was selected because it is one of the larger rural community colleges. Elgin Community College in Elgin was selected to be representative of larger urban community colleges. With the limited amount of time available for the field study, it was felt that these four colleges would provide feedback that would be fairly representative of Illinois community colleges' developmental educational programs. Cohen and Brawer (1996) define developmental education as activities to keep students in school and to help them improve their basic skills so that they can complete an academic or vocational program satisfactorily. Miller (1996) provides a much broader definition which allows that developmental education is an umbrella term that includes both academic and social/psychological support services for underprepared students. Thus, besides developmental 4 Developmental Course-Taking in Community Colleges 4 English, reading, and writing, colleges' developmental educational programs, as defined by Miller, would also include learning skills centers, tutoring, advising, and counseling. Knowing what developmental education is designed to accomplish in a very limited view and reviewing developmental education in community colleges may not be sufficient for one to develop a meaningful understanding of the many intricate and wide-ranging implications of developmental education. Looking at developmental education philosophically, that is, how it fits into the total education framework in the Unites States, provides a base from which one can then develop a meaningful model for understanding not only the definition of developmental education, but also whom it serves, who benefits from it, and why they need it. Stanley 0. Ikenberry, former president of the University of Illinois and current president of the American Council on Education, takes a very pragmatic view toward developmental education in the United States. While Ikenberry agrees that no one particularly likes remedial education and that it would be easier for faculty and colleges if students came to college already in possession of all they needed to know to pursue whatever program they might want, colleges offer developmental courses simply because students come unprepared (Ikenberry & Stix, 1998). Ikenberry (Ikenberry and Stix,1998) believes that developmental education is necessary because: (a) many students arrive at college having coasted through high school; (b) not all high schools offer a full complement of college preparatory mathematics and science courses; and (c) many immigrants need help with English or writing. According to Ikenben-y (1998), developmental education is an important form of quality control because colleges, through offering developmental educational programs, give students the opportunity to remove deficiencies because they care about quality and enforcement of academic standards. Ikenberry 5 Developmental Course-Taking in Community Colleges 5 (1998) also believes that developmental education shores up academic standards while democratizing higher education. Unfortunately, not everyone supports developmental education. Nicholas Stix (Ikenberry & Stix; 1998) believes that developmental education creates a drain on educational resources that they could better use providing programs for the academically prepared. Stix (1998) also believes that developmental education inflates enrollments and turns colleges into overpriced high schools. While one might argue that the United States needs stronger and better high schools that do a better job of academically preparing students for college, Stix's argument fails to thoroughly address a fundamental issue. That is, if high schools are not properly preparing students academically and if colleges should not be overpriced high schools, then who should address the need for developmental education? Should we ignore the need for developmental education? Ikenberry (1998) states very pragmatically that a need for developmental education exists and that we (community colleges) would be well advised to fix the deficiency. The entire United States benefits from colleges having effective developmental educational programs. If high schools, for whatever reasons, are not adequately preparing students for college and colleges did not offer developmental educational programs, one might want to ask what would happen to those students. Notwithstanding those students, one might also want to ask what might happen to those students who have been out of formal education for several years who wish to return to complete an associate degree, baccalaureate degree, advanced graduate studies, or those students who simply want to take one or more college-level courses to broaden their horizons. It seems only logical that denying anyone access to higher education would likely lead to more sharply defined classes in American society. Perhaps those who do not support colleges, particularly community colleges, offering developmental educational 6 Developmental Course-Taking in Community Colleges 6 programs will soon step forward and show how the United States can afford not to have these programs. Review of the Literature In a review of the impact of developmental educational programs at 150 colleges and universities throughout the United States, Boylan and Bonham confirmed that developmental educational programs seem to work (Weissman, Silk, and Bulakowski, 1997). While they may seem to work, there is little hard evidence to prove that developmental educational programs are successful. Research on developmental educational programs in general is scarce and even more scarce as related to developmental course-taking in mathematics and subsequent academic performance. Many, if not most, community colleges operate on restricted budgets that prohibit them from having all the programs that would provide the greatest benefit to students. Before 1992, Mesa Community College (MCC) in Arizona, because of its proximity to the state university located just a few miles from the MCC campus, functioned primarily as a transfer institution (Cornell, Fazio, Florschuetz, Howard, Leyva, Martinez, Mee, O'Brien, and Reinders, 1996). Then, in 1992, the demand at MCC for remedial education began to overshadow its transfer function (Cornell, et al., 1996). In Fall 1992, Cornell, et al. found that 65 percent of MCC's students assessed for placement in English, mathematics, and reading scored below college-level in at least one of the three subjects. Community colleges are just getting started in the process of evaluating the effectiveness of their developmental educational programs. McGregor and Attinasi (1996) conducted an extensive study of students enrolling in Fall 1988 at Pima Community College (PCC) in Tucson, Arizona. McGregor and Attinasi designed their study to determine: (a) the extent to which 7 Developmental Course-Taking in Community Colleges 7 entering students took the placement tests in writing, reading, and mathematics according to college policy; (b) the extent to which students followed recommendations, based on these tests, to take developmental courses; and (c) the relationship between completion of recommended developmental courses early in one's PCC career and subsequent academic performance as indicated by GPA, the rate of completed to attempted courses, and graduation. The McGregor and Attinasi (1996) study concluded that when comparing either students who took but failed to complete at least one developmental course in writing, reading, or mathematics by the end of the second semester or students who did not take at least one recommended developmental course in writing, reading, or mathematics by the end of the second semester, students who completed at least one recommended developmental course in writing, reading, or mathematics by that time were more likely to have completed fifteen or more total credits and to have graduated by the end of the fourth year. However, while McGregor and Attinasi initially suggested that taking developmental course work would promote performance in subsequent academic course work, mathematics included, it failed to show a measurable relationship between successful completion of developmental course work and subsequent performance in college-level courses. Their report recommended additional research regarding: (a) the relationship between developmental course-taking and subsequent academic performance; and (b) the causes of high withdrawal rates from recommended developmental courses. In a 1993 study of developmental educational practices in Virginia community colleges, Allan, Bartek, Melton, Runk, and Schaffer (1995) identified several factors that correlated significantly with the reported effectiveness of developmental educational programs. The factors identified were: (a) organization of the delivery system for developmental education; 8 Developmental Course-Taking in Community Colleges 8 (b) the level of the administrator responsible for developmental education; (c) the selection of placement tests; (d) the process of assigning faculty to teach developmental education courses; (e) the provision of special training for faculty to work with developmental students; (f) restrictions placed on the course load of developmental students; (g) established process for reviewing costs related to developmental education; and (h) consideration of ways to reduce program costs (Allan, et al., 1995). New York City Technical College (1995) identified the characteristics of a successful student as having: (a) a good high school average; (b) high placement test scores; (c) some academic aptitude; (d) knowledge about the importance of developmental skills and about the relationship between successful completion of developmental studies and performance in college-level courses in their major; (e) a commitment to their studies and willing to invest four to five hours per week for each class; (f) readiness to use tutors and the Learning Center; and (g) determination to accomplish their goals. Mandatory placement of students through ASSET, ACT, SAT, or other forms of standardized entry assessment instruments is an accepted practice at most American community colleges. In Illinois, all community colleges use some type of college placement test (ICCB, 1997). While Brint and Karabel (1989) believe that testing students is a form of labeling and that these tests negatively affect overall student achievement and self-esteem, Amey and Long (1998) recogrdze the need for assessment and subsequent placement to justify resource expenditures on programs that meet the needs of underprepared students. A study of mandatory placement testing and subsequent placement in developmental educational programs at Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, Kansas, showed that there was a high correlation between mandatory placement in reading and English and 9 Developmental Course-Taking in Community Colleges 9 overall student academic success (Amey & Long, 1998). Amey and Long (1998) also found that there was a significant relationship between overall achievement and successful early completion of developmental reading and English courses, though enrollment in the reading course during the first semester was the only institutional requirement. With little hard data from research on the effectiveness of developmental educational programs, community colleges are often hard-pressed to show whether or not their developmental educational programs are effective. Doucette and Hughes (Pierson, 1997) provide a series of questions designed to guide a college in assessing the performance of its basic skills and developmental education mission. Their questions include: (a) are students attaining the skills identified in course and program objectives; (b) are students completing courses and progressing tluough at reasonable rates; (c) are students progressing to and succeeding at the next level of education; (d) are students from different subgroups succeeding at comparable rates; and (e) are students' success rates comparable among various college programs for underprepared students. Effectiveness lends itself to describing outcomes for students whereas efficiency lends itself to describing how well an institution meets its mission objectives. All programs, developmental as well as college transfer, technical, community service, and workforce education, compete for their piece of the community college budget. According to Boylan (1983), it would be wise for community college administrators to be mindful that, as far as educational efficiency is concernednot to mention cost-effectivenessto try to retain potentially successful students rather than constantly have to replace currently enrolled students through new admissions. Therefore, community colleges with effective developmental educational programs ought to have higher than average student retention. 1 0